woi-tv.com | 29Nov2007 | Associated Press
http://www.woi-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7425138&nav=1LFX

Man with reputed Nazi past fights deportation from U.S.

CINCINNATI (AP) - The U.S. federal appeals court in Cincinnati today hears the case of a retired Ohio autoworker accused of being a Nazi death camp guard during World War II.

John Demjanjuk (dem-YAHN'-yuk) is now 87 and lives in suburban Cleveland. For years he's been fighting deportation to his native Ukraine. His lawyer says today's appeal could be his last.

A federal immigration judge ruled in 2005 that Demjanjuk should be deported to Ukraine, or to Germany or Poland if Ukraine refuses to accept him.

Demjanjuk's lawyer contends the immigration judge didn't have the authority to deport him but an earlier appeal concluded his Nazi past has been conclusively established.

The case goes back nearly 30 years. A court in Israel cleared him of allegations he was a sadistic concentration camp guard known as "Ivan the Terrible." But American prosecutors say war documents prove he was a Nazi guard. He was allowed into the U.S. after the war as a displaced person.